WOM3 – The Paschal Mystery – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating – Discerning Hearts Podcast

The Paschal Mystery – The Way of Mystery with Deacon James Keating

Deacon James Keating and Kris McGregor explore how the Paschal Mystery and the Eucharistic liturgy are inseparably united. The Mass is not merely about attendance or obligation but about making oneself available to be taken into Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. True participation requires an interior openness—allowing Christ to shape our hearts and draw us into communion with both Him and others. Rather than reducing Mass to duty, fellowship, or a fleeting emotional experience, he invites listeners to see it as an intentional, interior response to the presence of God breaking into time.

Conversion is a gradual process. Everyone comes to the Eucharist at different stages of their spiritual journey, carrying joy, grief, or indifference. We need to bring our authentic state—whether delight or sorrow—before God, trusting that Christ works within those realities. Mass is both personal and communal: it reverences each individual’s encounter with Christ while drawing the community together in communion. Our identity flows from the Eucharist, where Christ gives us Himself and plants the seed of resurrection within us—a gift that sustains us through life, death, and into eternity.

Discerning Hearts Reflection Questions

1. How do I prepare my heart to be truly available to Christ when I go to Mass?


2. In what ways do I sometimes reduce the Eucharist to an obligation rather than an encounter with Christ?


3. Am I attentive to my interior disposition at Mass, or do I approach it on autopilot?


4. How open am I to letting Christ take me into His life, death, and resurrection during the liturgy?


5. Do I bring both my joys and sorrows honestly before God in the Eucharist?


6. How do I recognize and respect that others in the community may be at different points in their spiritual journey?


7. In what ways do I allow my emotions—or lack of them—to determine my participation at Mass?


8. Do I see the Mass as both a personal encounter with Christ and a communal act of worship?


9. How do I live out my Eucharistic identity in daily life beyond the church walls?


10. What steps can I take to deepen my intentional presence at the Eucharistic liturgy each week?

Deacon James Keating, Ph.D., is a professor of Spiritual Theology and serves as a spiritual director at Kenrick Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO.

Check out Deacon Keating’s “Discerning Heart” page

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